Only three episodes until Hannibal‘s run on NBC comes to a close. But how will it end?
It seems less and less likely that Bryan Fuller’s Hannibal will live on after season 3 nears the finish line. After three seasons of falling ratings, the network opted to forgo renewing their agreement to lease the show from Gaumont International Television. That places a bit of pressure on the finale of the current season still airing on NBC.
Prior to the announcement that Hannibal would not continue, filming already wrapped leaving the final episode of season 3 to put on the cloak of a series finale. Fuller and star Hugh Dancy spoke to this at Comic-Con, assuring fans that the season 3 ending could serve as one for the series should it come to that. Dancy said, “If it had to it could, it would be satisfying in that respect. It could also serve as a jumping off point for another season.”
Related: Quiz: What would Hannibal serve you at his dinner table?
Unfortunately, the fourth season where Fuller anticipated showing “a reinvention of the Hannibal/Will Graham dynamic in a huge way” may not see the light of day. So where does that leave us?
In the event that the narrative for season 3 wraps up in a way that follows the Red Dragon arc set out in Thomas Harris’ novel, Will and Hannibal are not exactly left with too much freedom to explore their relationship. Let’s take a look at what two different versions would look like.
Vague spoilers ahead for the book and most likely the direction the series will head.
The ‘Red Dragon’ ending
The pace should quicken now that Dolarhyde and Will have encountered one another face-to-face. After the incident in the Brooklyn Art Museum, Will has a visual of Dolarhyde and the hunt for Graham is already afoot. Now that Hannibal has Will and Molly’s home address it is only a matter of time before Will’s family is put in the crosshairs of Hannibal’s latest scheme. If Hannibal cannot provide Will the family he deserves than Will cannot have a family at all.
But how does this all pan out? We’ll leave the Dolarhyde story for your own enjoyment, but the result of Hannibal’s plan throws a wrench in Will’s martial bliss. In the end, it is Jack Crawford who puts an end to Hannibal and Will’s reopened relationship. The final pages of the novel describe Jack destroying the last known correspondence Hannibal attempts to send Will’s way.
‘Red Dragon’ with a twist
Surely we cannot have Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter part ways in this manner. We just saw that ending in season 2, right? With rights to Clarice Starling completely off the table ahead of season 4, it seems likely that Hannibal may smell the fresh air that waits just five doors away. Though Fuller and his creative team found a way to make Hannibal seem less trapped than he truly is in the Baltimore State Hospital, a free Hannibal is far more fascinating concept.
If something were to allow Hannibal to exit the facility it would certainly be on terms not agreed upon by the FBI or any federal judge. Trapping Will Graham and Hannibal on opposite sides of a glass wall does have an alluring quality, causing the series to continue blurring the line between madness and reality.
But maybe that is what makes Hannibal an alluring project. The idea of having one character trapped in a space does not limit the realm of possibility for story telling. With a series so caught up in blurred lines of what is real and what is a manipulation of the mind, the heart of the narrative is in the characters trying to discover their place within the chaos. A “reinvention of the Hannibal/Will Graham dynamic” would require an extreme circumstance to keep the two in each others’ lives.
Does that mean killing Molly? Will and Bedelia teaming up? Bedelia and Hannibal coming together again? Any combination of these circumstances would change Will and Hannibal’s motivations, but perhaps the most intriguing of these would place Hannibal, for once, on the defensive. What would happen if Hannibal suddenly lost the upper hand?
Whichever path Fuller mapped out, whether Will and Hannibal carry on their lives on the same side of the glass or with bridges forever burned, they are both likely to survive season 3.
Hannibal season 3, episode 11, “…And the Beast from the Sea,” airs Saturday, August 15 at 10:00 p.m. ET on NBC.